2005 Champions of Health links and resources
Champion of Oklahoma Health
J. Mark Osborn, MD - Miami
J. Mark Osborn, MD of Miami, Okla., was chosen as the Champion of Oklahoma Health, the highest recognition in the 2005 Champions of Health Awards. Osborn was selected from more than 100 individuals and organizations nominated for their efforts to improve Oklahoma’s health.
Osborn was chosen for his tireless efforts to assist families affected by the health care crisis at the Tar Creek Superfund site near Picher, Okla. After countless hours of study and communication with elected officials, Osborn helped form the Ottawa County Health Coalition to educate local health care providers about the dangers of lead poisoning. Osborn also helped design a Harvard University study investigating the potential for pregnant mothers to pass lead contamination to their unborn children.
Concluding that removing children from the area was the only safe way to ensure their safety, Osborn worked with Gov. Brad Henry to enact legislation creating the Lead Impact Trust Authority, resulting in $3 million in state appropriations to relocate Picher-area families with young children.
Tar Creek Superfund site
Harvard University study
Legislative Health Champion
Former Sen. Bernest Cain - Oklahoma City
Since his legislative career began in 1979, former Sen. Bernest Cain championed innumerable issues regarding the health of Oklahomans, particularly the state’s youth. He was principal Senate author of the legislation that created the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. In 2005, Cain was instrumental in the passage of three major pieces of legislation designed to help improve the health of Oklahoma’s school children. The new laws address the health value of food choices in school vending machines and physical education requirements for Oklahoma schools. He also was an active participant and stakeholder in the Central Oklahoma Turning Point initiative, a campaign to improve health among professional employees in Oklahoma City.
Sen. Bernest Cain
OklahomaCommission on Children and Youth
Central OklahomaTurning Point
Ageless Hero
Bill Heaton,The Oklahoma Arthritis Network - Laverne
Bill Heaton raises awareness of physical activity as a way to manage arthritis pain, increase function, prevent further disability and improve overall health. He travels across northwestern Oklahoma to instruct others who have arthritis, and he also serves as a role model for healthy aging.
Upon his “second” retirement as a director of the Area Agency on Aging, Heaton, continued his work with the aging population when he became a trained volunteer leader of PACE (People with Arthritis Can Exercise), developed by the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s Arthritis Prevention and Education Program.
Area Agency on Aging
PACE (People with Arthritis Can Exercise)
OK State Dep of Health’s Arthritis Prevention and Education Program
Health and Medical Media Champion
Sue Hale, The Oklahoman - Oklahoma City
As an Oklahoma journalist for more than 30 years, Sue Hale has worked to address health issues in the media. She has helped create a regular health column and health focused special publications in The Oklahoman and arranged for the newspaper to publish four health-related inserts in both English and Spanish. As co-chair of Central Oklahoma Turning Point, Hale works to form partnerships in the Oklahoma City-area to promote healthy lifestyles among their employees.
The Oklahoman
Central OklahomaTurning Point
Champion of the Uninsured
Cindra Pribil, RN, Green Country Free Clinic - Bartlesville
Cindy Pribil, founder of the Green Country Free Clinic in Bartlesville, has made a profound difference in the lives of Oklahoma’s uninsured, working poor since the clinic opened over 15 years ago. Today, patients are served annually by specialists, nurses and volunteers in the free clinic’s modern, efficient and comfortable facility. The stand-alone facility was donated by Jane Phillips Medical Center, newly renovated and equipped with money raised through the clinic’s first capital campaign in 2002. Through its patient assistance program and volunteer-staffed pharmacy, serves as the model for over a dozen free clinics throughout the region.
Jane Phillips Medical Center
Minority Health Champion
Claire Richard, Project Falummichechi - Oklahoma City
Claire Richard developed Project Falummichechi, which in the Choctaw language means “to reclaim.” The project promotes a curriculum and mentor program for recruiting teen volunteers to teach second graders about coping skills and positive ways to deal with their emotions. Richard created evaluation instruments, with partnership and supervision from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center College of Public Health, to assess students both before and after the presentations. This culturally sensitive program reflects Richard’s inspiring vision for improved mental health throughout the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
OU Health Sciences Center College of Public Health
Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma
Corporate Health Champion
Cardinal Health Incentive Program,
Cardinal Engineering, Inc. - Oklahoma City
Cardinal Engineering recognized that its most precious asset was its employees and made an investment in the health of its workforce. A unique cash incentive program encourages employees to set and meet annual personal health goals. The result is fewer sick days, better attitudes and more stamina for employees to achieve personal and company goals. Program participants work out three to four times a week, reduce their caffeine intake and show results in weight loss. This program also provides full health insurance coverage, including dental and vision, for all employees and their families.
Cardinal Engineering
Champion of Children’s Health
“Don’t Bug Me” Flu Prevention Campaign, Hillcrest HealthCare System and Tulsa City-County Health Department - Tulsa
In response to the 2004 flu vaccine shortage, Hillcrest and the Tulsa City-County Health Department developed a comprehensive public awareness campaign designed to educate students, employers and the community about simple steps that could help prevent the spread of the flu virus.
The “Don’t Bug Me! – Help Stop the Flu” campaign was developed and presented to local media outlets, which supported the campaign and contributed dollar-for-dollar advertising in their respective areas. Health departments in Nevada and New Mexico asked to duplicate the program; estimates indicate that approximately 1.6 million people in the three states and about 823,000 Tulsa-area residents have been exposed to the campaign’s message.
“Don’t Bug Me” Flu Prevention Campaign
Hillcrest HealthCare System
Tulsa City-County Health Department
Education and Awareness Champion
Men’s Health Tune-Up, Craig General Hospital - Vinita
To address the growing concern over men’s health issues, with creativity and originality, Craig General Hospital in Vinita launched the “Men’s Health Tune-Up.” The event featured health screenings and presentations from four physicians specializing in fields important to men – cardiology, gastroenterology, orthopedics and urology. Men traveled from many northeastern Oklahoma towns to attend, and the physicians who presented reported that several attendees scheduled appointments for office visits the very next day.
Craig General Hospital
Champion of Health Care in Rural Oklahoma
Jerry Morgan, MD, Compassion Outreach Center - Ada
Jerry Morgan, MD has practiced in the Ada community for years. His leadership and assistance helped to create the Compassion Outreach Center, a free clinic in Ada which serves as a location for area medical professionals to volunteer their services to the community. On behalf of the Compassion Outreach Center, Morgan coordinated assistance from local health officials from around the area to secure laboratory services and free pharmaceuticals for uninsured patients.
Professional Health Champion
John M. Kalbfleisch, MD, Cardiology of Tulsa - Tulsa
John Kalbfleisch, MD had a vision for a cardiovascular program that offered the most advanced treatment and technology to the people of Oklahoma. He joined the Saint Francis Hospital medical staff in 1969, and the following year helped to open the hospital’s first catheterization lab. To help rectify the critical shortage of primary care physicians in rural Oklahoma, Kalbfleisch also was instrumental in establishing the Warren Clinic in 1987. In 2004, Kalbfleisch fostered partnerships between leading regional cardiovascular specialists and Saint Francis Health System, resulting in a state-of-the-art specialty heart hospital equipped with the latest technologies in cardiovascular care.
John Kalbfleisch, MD
Saint Francis Health System
Warren Clinic
Children’s Health Award of Merit
Bedlam Children’s Health Partnerships,
University of Oklahoma - Tulsa; Tulsa
In an effort to improve access to health care for children in poverty, the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine partnered with Tulsa schools and civic groups to form a network of children’s clinical services. Clinics now operate in public elementary schools in disadvantaged areas. As a result, school absenteeism rates have been reduced, inappropriate emergency room visits are in decline, access to free medications has been expanded, immunization rates have improved and savings to the local health systems have been achieved. In addition, a partnership with Shreveport and Galveston Shriner’s hospitals and physicians has reduced travel and expense burdens for children in need of the Shriner’s assistance.
University of Oklahoma College of Medicine
Shriner’s hospitals
Education and Awareness Award of Merit
W.A.L.K. (Wellness And Lawton’s Kids),
Comanche County Memorial Hospital Foundation - Lawton
The Comanche County Memorial Hospital Foundation in conjunction with Lawton Public Schools and numerous community sponsors developed W.A.L.K., a childhood obesity prevention program designed to increase the number of steps students walked daily. Through tracking daily steps and establishing weekly goals, children were incented to increase their daily activity and improve their overall health. Awareness of childhood obesity in the community is now very high, resulting in new collaborations to prevent the problem.
Comanche County Memorial Hospital
Lawton Public Schools
Professional Health Care Award of Merit
Ronald O. Gilcher, MD, OK Blood Institute - Oklahoma City
Since coming to the Oklahoma Blood Institute in 1979, Dr. Gilcher has turned the fledgling blood center into the sixth largest blood center in the U.S. Gilcher’s dedication to blood safety has contributed to a number of innovations in transfusion medicine, all pioneered in Oklahoma. Under Gilcher’s direction, OBI developed and implemented Single Unit Nucleic Acid testing for AIDS, Hepatitis B and C and West Nile Virus long before other U.S. blood centers.
Oklahoma Blood Institute
Minority Health Award of Merit
INTEGRIS Health Hispanic Initiative - Oklahoma City; Oklahoma City
INTEGRIS Health seeks to meet the needs of Oklahoma City’s growing Hispanic community through medical screenings, educational and medical information in Spanish, as well as the development of a resource center providing health information and general assistance where possible. INTEGRIS positively impacts the health of Hispanics through increased health screenings, bean pot and mini-blind exchanges (a targeted effort to reduce lead poisoning among Hispanic children in central Oklahoma), increased medical information in Spanish and provision of community resources for Hispanics. Additional initiatives specifically aimed at improving community relations with Hispanics include support groups for cancer survivors, monthly articles in Hispanic newspapers on health topics, and their fourteenth annual Hispanic Health Fair.
INTEGRIS Health
INTEGRIS Health Hispanic Initiative